Low on Funds, ‘Spider-Man’ Dims Its Last Lights

It wouldn’t have been a fitting final performance of Broadway’s “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” if something hadn’t gone wrong.

The $75 million production of “Spider-Man,” the most expensive musical in history and one of the most troubled, ended a run of three years and two months on Saturday night with a final show that dazzled audience members as the superhero flew over their heads in the most elaborate aerial stunts ever on Broadway. But the special-effects-laden musical, which drew headlines for a string of technical problems and cast injuries, did endure one glitch on Saturday: a door handle failed to close properly on the villainous Green Goblin’s metamorphosis machine, causing a crew member to dash out on stage and snap it into place while a musical number was underway.

The 1,900-strong audience roared with approval and applause at the sight of the stagehand, whose quick work helped insure the safety of the actor inside the goblin’s machine. And to be fair, it was the briefest of errors – nothing on par with the five times that “Spider-Man” had to stop entirely during its first preview performance on Nov. 28, 2010, the star-crossed debut of a production whose difficulties turned it into a national punchline and an object of ghoulish fascination.

There were no speeches on Saturday night until the curtain call, when the actor Robert Cuccioli, who played the Green Goblin, thanked “the vast array of dedicated and talented people backstage” who had worked on the show. He then asked them to join the cast for a bow, and also called out the musical’s lead producers, Michael Cohl and Jeremiah Harris, and its current director, Philip William McKinley.

As audience members threw red and white roses onto the Foxwoods Theater stage, two of the musical’s former stars, Reeve Carney (who played Peter Parker for two and a half years) and Patrick Page (who won strong reviews as the Green Goblin), also ran onto the stage with bouquets for current cast members. A couple of actors held banners that read, “Always Bet on Red (and Blue)!” and “Vegas, Baby!,” the latter a reference to the producers’ announcement that they intend to open a revamped version of “Spider-Man” in Las Vegas in 2015.

No mention was made of the show’s famous composers, Bono and the Edge of U2, nor its original director, Julie Taymor, who was fired during preview performances after clashing with the two musicians and the producers over strategies to improve “Spider-Man.” Bono, the Edge, and Ms. Taymor did not attend Saturday’s performance; only the fourth creator of the show, Glen Berger, who co-wrote the script with Ms. Taymor, was in the audience. (Mr. Berger has been busy lately selling copies of a tell-all memoir about the making of the musical and the ensuing infighting.)

The vibe inside the theater was festive, with Mr. Carney, Mr. Page and other audience members going to lengths to loudly applaud the first entrances of several actors. The performance included only one inside joke about the closing of the show: A character reads aloud a newspaper headline, “Super-hero mega-musical defies doubters, runs three years on Broadway.” A cast party was also planned for later that night at John’s Pizzeria in Times Square.

“Spider-Man” had 1,248 performances in all, a healthy run by Broadway standards – but not nearly enough to come close to earning back the original $75 million capitalization to create and stage the musical. Most Broadway musicals are capitalized at between $10 million to $15 million; the costs for “Spider-Man” were much higher because of years-long delays in making the show as well as hefty set and costume budgets, salaries for scores of people on the creative team, and a costly retooling of the show during previews, among many other budget items.

The producers and investors on “Spider-Man” are expected to lose up to $60 million on the Broadway run, though they could still see some financial return if the show runs in Las Vegas and proves popular. The producers are negotiating with the Las Vegas casino owner Steve Wynn about putting the musical into one of his properties and adding even more special effects. Final terms have yet to be reached.

While the musical grossed more than $210 million over its Broadway run, profits were relatively low because ticket sales were barely enough to cover the show’s record-high running costs, which totaled between $1 million and $1.3 million each week. (The running costs were in addition to the $75 million capitalization.) “Spider-Man” would have had to run for at least seven years on Broadway to recoup the $75 million investment, according to the producers, though other theater executives estimated that it would have taken even longer.

The musical benefited early on from unprecedented media coverage of cast injuries, aerial stunt problems and backstage fights (culminating in the ouster of Ms. Taymor), and countless theatergoers no doubt purchased tickets out of curiosity. The producers had hoped that all the attention might draw in audience members who would then tell friends and neighbors that the show itself was actually good, while also counting on the popularity of “Spider-Man” to attract families and tourists.

Ticket sales were strong for a year and a half after the media frenzy died down, but they began to decline noticeably by the fall of 2012. Some weeks in 2013 were even worse, as competition increased from new family musicals like “Cinderella” and “Matilda” and spectacle-driven shows like “Pippin.” By August, when the “Spider-Man” grosses fell below $1 million for the first time for an eight-performance week, the question looming over the show was when it would close, not if.

But the show’s highs and lows weren’t on the minds of several audience members on Saturday night. They cared only about the highs.

“Spider-man’s my favorite super-hero, so I loved it,” said Will Gercich, 12, of Secaucus, N.J., after the performance. “When he started flying around the theater, it just felt so incredible to watch.”

“Will really wanted to see the very last performance,” added his mother, Patricia, as they waited at the stage door for cast members to sign autographs.

“It was a special occasion,” said Will, who fell in love with the superhero from comic books. “I’ll never forget the show.”

Correction:

An article on Monday about the final Broadway performance of “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark,” using information from a spokesman for the show, misstated the number of performances during its run. He says it was 1,248, not 1,268. (The error was repeated in headlines.)

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page C1 of the New York edition with the headline: Last Gaffe for ‘Spider-Man’ (Show 1,268). Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe